New COVID-19 Cases Reported Across Chinese Mainland

By Joshua Cawthorpe

Another employee from Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) has tested positive for COVID-19 in Anhui province after traveling to his home province by coach, according to China Daily. 

The news comes just two days after a PVG baggage handler was confirmed to be infected and hospitalized in Shanghai.

The newest infection has expanded the scope of prevention and control measures as the man returned to Yingshang county in Fuyang on November 5. Fuyang city is roughly 650 kilometers from PVG. 

By 11am on Tuesday, 34 close contacts had been identified and 16 samples had been collected — so far all have tested negative.

As for the 51-year-old baggage handler hospitalized in Shanghai, authorities have traced 26 close contacts in addition to 186 individuals who interacted with the patient. All of them are currently in quarantine at designated hotels. An additional 524 samples were taken from objects in the environments related to the case in an effort to determine the origin. 

A further 8,717 people related to the case have tested negative for the virus as the municipality moves to stamp out the risk of a wider outbreak. 

Yingqian village is classified as a medium-risk area and residents are being urged to follow prevention protocols and monitor their health.

Li Guohua, Pudong district’s vice governor, assured the media on Monday that the workplace activities of the infected baggage handler are unrelated to the China International Import Expo (CIIE), which has been held over the past week.

The Shanghai Health Commission also stated that prevention and control measures at the CIIE are in place and all participants must present a valid nucleic acid test from within the past seven days upon entering the venue.

Part of the Binhai New Area in Tianjin is also considered a medium-risk area after a COVID-19 case was reported this past weekend. The origin of the virus is said to have come from the outer packaging of frozen food. 

A driver, who arrived at Hailian Frozen Food Co. on November 5 and handled the same packages, tested positive on Monday afternoon. 

More than 77,000 residents in the area were given nucleic acid tests overnight and negative results need to be provided by those who wish to leave the area for essential purposes. There are 39 cold storage facilities within the medium-risk area and disinfection processes for frozen foods are being amped up nationwide.

In southwest China’s Yunnan province, Gengma Dai and Va autonomous regions also reported two new asymptomatic cases and another imported asymptomatic case from an individual who recently arrived from Myanmar. 

School has been suspended in the town of Mengding where three communities have been ordered to quarantine for 14 days.

[Cover image via @小豆芽钱钱/Weibo]

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